Name: ______________________________________
Date: ________________________
Student Exploration: Building Pangaea
Vocabulary: continental drift, fossil, glacier, ice age, landmass, Pangaea, supercontinent
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. Antarctica is a frozen land, so cold and icy that no trees can grow there. Yet scientists have
discovered fossils (remains preserved in rock) of ancient trees in Antarctica.
Interpret what you think this means. ___________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. The Himalayas in central Asia are the tallest mountains in the world. But fossils of seashells
can be found high in these mountains, far from any ocean.
Interpret how you think they got there. __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Gizmo Warm-up
1. The Gizmo allows you to drag and rotate all the major
landmasses on Earth.

To drag a landmass, grab it in the middle.

To rotate a landmass, grab it near the edge.

Learn the names of landmasses by holding the
cursor over the landmass for a few seconds.

Mark where you live. Drag an arrow from the purple
bar at left to your location.
2. Test your geography skills. Drag and rotate landmasses randomly until you make a big
mess. Then try to move them back to their original positions.
3. Click Reset. Compare your map to the real one. How well did you do? _________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Activity A:
Solving the puzzle
Get the Gizmo ready:
 If necessary, click Reset.
 Check that the Evidence shown is None.
Introduction: In 1915, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener (VAY-guh-ner) proposed the
theory of continental drift. According to this theory, the landmasses once were joined into a
supercontinent called Pangaea. The landmasses then slowly drifted to their current positions.
Question: What did Pangaea look like?
1. Observe: Drag South America close to Africa. Look at their coastlines. What do you notice?
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Explore: Try to fit all the landmasses together like a puzzle.

As much as possible, avoid overlapping landmasses.
3. Analyze: Look at your map of Pangaea.
A. How well do the continents fit together? Pretty good or Not so good
B. Is it a perfect fit?
(circle one)
Y / N (circle one) Explain. _____________________________
___________________________________________________________________
C. Think about how the landmasses got from where they were to where they are today.
Does it seem realistic that the landmasses could have moved like this? Y / N
(circle one)
Explain_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4. Compare: If possible, present your map of Pangaea to a classmate next to you.
A. Are the maps very similar or very different ?
(circle one)
B. If Alfred Wegener showed you a map like this but did not have any other evidence,
would you have believed his theory that the continents had moved? Y / N
(circle one)
Explain_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Activity B:
Fossil and rock
evidence
Get the Gizmo ready:
 Click Reset.
 Under Evidence choose Fossils.
Question: What do fossils and rocks tell us about Pangaea?
1. Observe: The brown areas in the Gizmo show where fossils of Lystrosaurus have been
found. Lystrosaurus looked a bit like a dinosaur, but lived in a time before dinosaurs.
A. On which landmasses did Lystrosaurus live? _______________________________
___________________________________________________________________
B. Lystrosaurus probably couldn’t swim very far. How might the locations of
Lystrosaurus fossils be seen as evidence that the continents were once together?
___________________________________________________________________
2. Explore: Use the fossil evidence to help you make a new map of Pangaea.
How well do the landmasses fit together this time? Pretty good or Not so good
(circle one)
3. Revise: Now under Evidence choose Rocks. The purple areas are mountains that formed
when landmasses collided 450 million years ago. The orange areas show rocks that formed
about 2 billion years ago.
Adjust your map using this evidence.
4. Compare: If possible, compare your map to that of a classmate.
A. How similar are the maps? _____________________________________________
B. If Wegener showed you this evidence, would you have believed his theory? Y / N
Explain_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
5. Extend your thinking: Click Reset and watch India closely. The Himalayan Mountains are
found on the border of India and Eurasia. How do you think these mountains were formed?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Activity C:
Ancient ice sheets
Get the Gizmo ready:
 Click Reset.
 Under Evidence choose Glaciers.
Introduction: Glaciers are large, slow-moving sheets of ice. During ice ages, glaciers formed
at the North and South Poles and spread out to cover large areas.
Question: What does evidence of glaciers tell us about Pangaea?
1. Observe: The white areas are places that show evidence of a massive ice sheet that existed
around 250 million years ago.
A. Which landmasses show evidence of ancient glaciers? _______________________
___________________________________________________________________
B. Would you expect to find large glaciers on all of these landmasses today? Y / N
Explain_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2. Explore: Drag the landmasses together to form a map of Pangaea. Try to line up the white
areas on each continent. You can use the fossil and rock evidence as well if you like.
3. Analyze: Choose Glaciers (if necessary) and look at the white regions. Does this pattern
make more sense now? Y / N
(circle one)
Explain. ____________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Extend your thinking: As glaciers moved away from the poles, rocks stuck to the bottom of
the ice were dragged over the ground. This left scrapes and scratches on rock outcrops that
can still be seen today. The scratches show which direction the glaciers moved.
A. Look at the arrows that show the direction of glacial scratches. What is the pattern?
___________________________________________________________________
B. Which landmass do you think was located over the South Pole in the time of
Pangaea? ______________________
Discuss your answer with a classmate.
Why did you say that landmass? (Hint: Look at those glacial arrows) ________________
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